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“At the Ford. 17 miles from Skagway [Alaska],” [ca. September 1897]. 3.5 pp. in pencil on 2 loose lined sheets, 9.75” x 7.75”. With original business envelope of “White & Gabel, Chehalis, Wash.,” postmarked “Seattle, Washington, Sep. 27 630 PM [18]97.” CONDITION: Very good, old folds.

A lively letter by a future Washington State mover and shaker who joined the Klondike Gold Rush as early as 1897 and later served as Washington State Librarian and president of a Tacoma-based lumber company. 

This letter is addressed to Nellie Gabel White of Chehalis, Washington State, who ran the drug, book, and stationery store White & Gabel in Chehalis. The writer, who signs the letter simply “J. A. G.,” is likely her nephew Joe A. Gabel (ca. 1873–1944, also known as “Joe A. Gabriel”), who according to the 1900 census lived with her in Chehalis, and who is known to have worked at White & Gabel. Gabel writes en route to the gold fields, reporting that he has “been out with the pack trains for 13 days in succession from 4:30 AM until nine P.M. Consequently I have had no time to write.” He describes how “Yesterday, [the] day before, and in fact for 4 days before that, it has been rainy and foggy continually, mud knee deep, and trail in bad condition; tent leaky, blankets wet and things pretty blue generally.” He describes the company he is traveling with, which has lost one member so far: 

The gang however are still in good spirits and full of hope that we will get there, one man excepted, viz:—Gilfellen of Seattle, our blacksmith. He packed up a few clothes this morning and saying that he couldn’t stand it any longer but would come in…Spring, left for Skagway to take the boat for home. I am surprised to find that all our boys even those who seemed most faint hearted are facing the music and seem to have no notion of giving up. 

He notes that he has received White’s letter of August 23rd—“in which you tell me of the little shoemaker’s death and the one in which Tip tells me about fried chicken, celery ice tea &c Grimminy!” He tells White: “don’t ever write anything like that until I get into Klondyke. I read that part to a gang of the boys who stood around the stove when I read it, and you should have heard the groans and yells and cuss words.” He tells her that he has “a bundle of papers & magazines but have had no time to read them or even see what they were…You had better not send me anymore until I get to Klondyke as there will not be much probability of their reaching me. Don’t fail to write me however, as it is the ‘voice from home’ that braces a fellow up and makes him feel strong and independent.”  

He proceeds to describe the process of hauling some 15,000 pounds of supplies and equipment in stages from Skagway to Bennett Lake (where they would have loaded their goods onto rafts to float down the Yukon River toward Dawson City):

We have 1200 lbs of our goods here; about 4000 lbs 3 miles below here over the big hill the trail over this hill being so bad that we can not get our horses over it and so are having the 4000 pulled by men up the river bottom over the rocks. We have the balance of our goods ahead of us 2000 lbs on the meadows about 10 miles from our destination 4000 lbs on the shallow lake 15 miles from our destination, and about 2000 lbs near the summit about 17 miles from our destination. 

Noting that he thinks they will reach Bennett Lake about September 25th, he continues to describe their travel itinerary before reporting on the rather grim subject of horses:

I think we will get away from here about the 16” [i.e., 16th] and will camp within 12 miles of Bennett. I am more than glad Harry did not come up this Fall as things are very dull in Skagway and horses cheap. Not 3 minutes ago a man stopped at the door and asked for a revolver to kill his horse with as the poor brute had played out no good any longer. One horse died just outside the tent last night and there are at least fifteen more dead ones in the next mile on either side above and below us. Each one in all probability marking wrecked hopes of some poor devil for if a man who is packing on his back is not within 10 miles of the lake at this late date he had just as well give up. All along the trail from one end to the other dead horses are strewn and we are told that horses may be had at any price you care to pay at Lake Bennett as the miners who have got their outfits through turn the horses loose or sell them cheap. They say things are very dull at Skagway now so Harry can do much better by waiting until Spring. 

He reports that one W. A. Price, “who started back long ago, has seen and talked with you long before this time and from him you know how we are doing.” Bringing his letter to a close, he states that “There is a great number of people trying to push through and if the weather braces up they will make it all O.K.” 

Two holograph letters held at Middlebury College by “Joe Gabriel” were composed in Dawson City and both are addressed to Nellie White in Chehalis. The letters are dated December 1st, 1897 and April 1898. “Gabriel’s letters express his enthusiasm and optimism regarding the Yukon Gold Rush. He writes to White about a business idea in which he would take photographs of the Gold Region and sell them to other prospectors to send home as souvenirs. Gabriel also asks White to send items on a lengthy list of supplies” (“Joe Gabriel Yukon Gold Rush letters”). 

While it is unclear when exactly Gabel returned to Washington State, in 1902 he was appointed Washington State Librarian at twenty-nine years old. During the 1900s, Washington newspapers reported on automobile tours he under took with his wife throughout Mexico, the American West, and Canada. Mrs. J. A. Gabel—whose alias was Miss Westendorf—played violin, gave music lessons, and performed in Germany. She played in the symphony orchestra of Memphis, Tennessee before being confined to a sanatorium for a period due to poor health. During the 1910s, Joe Gabel served as the manager of the Tacoma-based lumber firm Pacific Mutual Door Company, a position that saw him travel extensively throughout the U.S. By 1916, he was president of the company and while serving in this capacity is known to have corresponded with former President Teddy Roosevelt. The Tacoma Daily Ledger notes, “For a number of years he has been prominent among both lumbermen and merchants in the Northwest.”

A vivid letter by a Klondike stampeder evoking the sundry difficulties of reaching the gold fields.

REFERENCES: The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington), Feb. 23, 1905, p. 3; The Bellingham Herald (Tacoma, Washington), Aug. 12, 1908, p. 5; The Tacoma Daily Ledger, July 23, 1912, p. 7; The Tacoma Daily Ledger, July 28, 1912, p. 14; The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), May 4, 1914, p. 14; The Tacoma Daily Ledger, May 21, 1916, p. 3; The Daily Chronicle (Centralia, Washington), Apr. 24, 1963, p. 10; “Joe Gabriel Yukon Gold Rush letters, 1897-1904” at Middlebury College Special Collections online.

Item #8640

Price: $750.00